Opening Split

Ley253

Member
Location
Bath
Does it matter if his eyes are closed?!
it could, to the owner of the now shorter poles, not to mention the triangular plot!The latter was not unknown in earlier times, when organisers only put the number on one end of the plot, and also forgot the odd peg!
 

Ford4610

Member
Set the cross shaft for a very wide front furrow, landside crank forward. That way it takes the weight off the landsides. Same for the second to last run to stop breaking the last green furrow off. You will need to find where to drop the plough (as Wuddy says) to avoid a hook on the end.
With weight on the landsides your tractor will tend to run crabbed down the field. You will find it much easier to drive straight once the weight is taken off the landsides.
Make sure you keep your head in exactly the same place. Find a skip and put the marker off the front of the bonnet in it. What and how you line up with is a personal matter - use what you feel comfortable with. Once you can see all the poles you have a bend in it.
Always easier to go straight if you are doing it on a regular basis. I used to drill with 6 metre drills on sidling ground. What I tended to use was the centre of the steering wheel. Do enough of it and it becomes second nature. Think outside the box.
How do you line the tractor up if the bonnet is sloping?
 

arcobob

Member
Location
Norfolk
How do you line the tractor up if the bonnet is sloping?
Some will argue that I am wrong but as an international rifle marksman I applied similar principles to those used when shooting with iron, as apposed to telescopic, sights. Everybody has a master eye and that eye should be used even if both eyes are open. Most people have a right master eye and this determines the alignment of the rearsight (steering wheel nut perhaps) an intermediate marker and the target. Being right eyed, I sat slightly to the left to ensure that this eye was giving true guidance. Ask any shotgun shooter and they will tell you that you cannot shoot off your right shoulder with a left master eye without blanking out vision from that eye or using a cross over gun.
My preference is to attach a foresight to the front of the bonnet to ensure that the head remains still throughout and the master eye is the one being employed. Some proven experts do not agree with this but one thing is for certain. If you set off with both eyes open and aim at a single marker you will invariably end up with a banana espesially if you are sitting in the wrong place and don`t keep your head still.
 
I use a bonnet marker, mainly to get myself lined up at the headland. When I start on the opening I tend to look through it rather than use it, the marker poles are the real guide and I always make sure I'm sat in the seat exactly as I was if I got off. I tend to gently weave may head left to right to keep the poles in a line, that way you can more easily spot if you drifting off to the side. As stated if you can see more than one pole you've already blown it and added a bend! You need to know your going off target before you do. I often struggle to get that very last run straight at the ends, more often than not I've got a slight curve at the start, its a bugger getting that plough in the right place to do the finish....
 

MrNoo

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Cirencester
Many years ago at a County match on a very foggy November day one of my fellow YFC contestants struck out a beautifully straight opening furrow - directly to the next plot’s far headland pole. Whoops!
I had that happen at a Salopian match on maize stubble, think it the one before lockdown.
Next door set out his poles but for some reason headed off towards mine, he’d done 3/4 of the run before I managed to stop him he then turned round and chucked two full furrows back in!!!!!
Easily done I guess especially we get older!!
 

arcobob

Member
Location
Norfolk
Make your poles distinctive. It can really only happen if the idiot next door is driving to a single pole. YFC matches are a source of this problem and I once had my far pole removed because the young lad next to me thought that was a spare one and nicked my pole. He learnt a sharp lesson.(y)
A friend was once alloted a reversible plot by mistake. He did no spot what was going on until it was too late.
 

Pennine Ploughing

Member
Mixed Farmer
Poles or wrong poles can be a problem if there is 2 rows of Ploughing plots side by side, and the plots are not staggered. As your not only hampered on the start but all day long as you both yourself and the guy in the plot opposite are going in and out opposite each other all day, that can get interesting, your poles are in similar place as other row, but will say 99% of matches are staggered 👍👍
Best thing is to know your own poles, Mark them with a bit of coloured tape / or paint etc, I mentioned this to a new guy years ago, he thought it was so you could tell which was yours if someone picked it up accidentally and put it on his tractor, he had painted the metal bit on bottom that goes in the ground 😉,

I now find it a lot easier to have 4 poles, and the biggest problem now is narrow short headlands to get it all lined up
 

arcobob

Member
Location
Norfolk
Poles or wrong poles can be a problem if there is 2 rows of Ploughing plots side by side, and the plots are not staggered. As your not only hampered on the start but all day long as you both yourself and the guy in the plot opposite are going in and out opposite each other all day, that can get interesting, your poles are in similar place as other row, but will say 99% of matches are staggered 👍👍
Best thing is to know your own poles, Mark them with a bit of coloured tape / or paint etc, I mentioned this to a new guy years ago, he thought it was so you could tell which was yours if someone picked it up accidentally and put it on his tractor, he had painted the metal bit on bottom that goes in the ground 😉,

I now find it a lot easier to have 4 poles, and the biggest problem now is narrow short headlands to get it all lined up
I was ploughing at Sherwood Forest match where the headlands betwee opposite plots were particularly naerrow. I had horses at the end of my plot and they invariably stopped to be petted, photographed and fed sugar lumps. I had a very frustrating day
 

MrNoo

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Cirencester
Make your poles distinctive. It can really only happen if the idiot next door is driving to a single pole. YFC matches are a source of this problem and I once had my far pole removed because the young lad next to me thought that was a spare one and nicked my pole. He learnt a sharp lesson.(y)
A friend was once alloted a reversible plot by mistake. He did no spot what was going on until it was too late.
My poles are like no others on the field!!!!
A single black pole placed on scratch and then a 6ft long x 5” wide steel flat strip!!!!
plots opposite ours so he used one of my poles and one of theirs!!!
 

Howard150

Member
Location
Yorkshire
Poles or wrong poles can be a problem if there is 2 rows of Ploughing plots side by side, and the plots are not staggered. As your not only hampered on the start but all day long as you both yourself and the guy in the plot opposite are going in and out opposite each other all day, that can get interesting, your poles are in similar place as other row, but will say 99% of matches are staggered 👍👍
Best thing is to know your own poles, Mark them with a bit of coloured tape / or paint etc, I mentioned this to a new guy years ago, he thought it was so you could tell which was yours if someone picked it up accidentally and put it on his tractor, he had painted the metal bit on bottom that goes in the ground 😉,

I now find it a lot easier to have 4 poles, and the biggest problem now is narrow short headlands to get it all lined up
All things being equal the rules state quite clearly only 3 sighting poles!
 

Howard150

Member
Location
Yorkshire
I totally agree with in most ploughing classes.
I plough High Cut and different rules and we are rarer than the giant panda, and their protected,
1653599021727.png
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

  • 0 %

    Votes: 80 42.3%
  • Up to 25%

    Votes: 66 34.9%
  • 25-50%

    Votes: 30 15.9%
  • 50-75%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 75-100%

    Votes: 3 1.6%
  • 100% I’ve had enough of farming!

    Votes: 7 3.7%

Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

  • 1,293
  • 1
As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
Top